Santander in the UK is challenging students to come up with new ideas to transform the banking industry, with a £20,000 prize pot at stake.
Santander's Big Ideas competition is looking to tap into the creativity of budding entrepreneurs, enabling undergraduates to retain ownership of the IP and work with the bank's innovation arm to put theory into practice.
The competition launch is backed by Santander research which shows that over a quarter (27%) of students - equivalent to 375,7002 in total - have started or plan to start a business venture whilst they are still at university,
Simon Bray, managing director of Santander Universities UK comments: “Thousands of students across the UK run very successful and profitable businesses whilst at university, but the appetite to continue being entrepreneurial seems to diminish as they come to the end of their studies.
“We want students to continue with their business plans, both during their studies and after they graduate, which is why it’s so important that they are supported every step of the way. At Santander we want to reward and encourage students to dare to invent, innovate, create and be entrepreneurial.”
The Big Ideas competition has a £20,000 prize fund, which will be split into:
- Best overall phase 1 submissions: up to 30 prizes of £50
- The future of semantic search category winner: £5,000
- The future of digital authentication category winner: £5,000
- The future of virtual banking category winner: £5,000
- Santander creative thinkers award for the most forward-thinking proposal: £3,500.